There are quite a few misconceptions about restaurant ownership in those that aren’t all that knowledgeable about this topic. One of the most common misconceptions is that the success of a restaurant only depends on the quality of food served in it. In fact, the success of a restaurant depends on an immense number of parameters. Location, social skills, and experience of the staff, presentation of food, marketing, and quite prominently – how does the restaurant look like. That’s right, the interior of a restaurant can entirely transform the experience that it offers – be it in a positive or a negative way. Having that said, if you are a restaurant owner, it is incredibly important that you take your time to ensure that the interior design of your restaurants is at a high level.
Now, what does one have to do in order to improve their restaurant’s interior design? Well, that’s exactly the topic of this article, so, if you want to learn more about restaurant interior design – make sure to keep on reading!
Ensure that the entrance is impactful
The entrance into a restaurant plays a huge role in how your restaurant is perceived and evaluated by your clients in the initial stages of entering it. When a potential customer is deciding whether to stay in your restaurant or not, what they see when they enter is crucial. Hence, it is vital that you make sure that the entrance to your restaurant is impactful in a positive manner. Additionally, it is important that your brand is easily identifiable upon entering. So, what does all of this mean in practice – what should you do to make your entrance more impactful?
If your first thought was to make a grand entrance hall with an exorbitant amount of decor – stop right there, that is not the impact that you want to make. Instead, you want to focus on the view from the entrance door of the restaurant from that angle. You want to carefully set up lighting and position decorations. You also want your tables properly arranged and covered with tablecloths printed with your logo to help promote your brand and sell your message. This will impress and invite your potential clients inside. In a way, you want to ensure that the primary perspective in which you design your interior is from the perspective of the client that’s entering the restaurant.
Understand your target audience
One of the most common mistakes in a restaurant’s interior design lies in the fact that people design them so that they appeal to them rather than to the target audience. This is a generally common mistake as you can easily gravitate more towards your own liking, of course. Now, experienced designers know how to tackle this. But, let’s see what should someone without major design experience have in mind. First of all, you need to ensure that you understand the niche of your restaurant. Try to construct a profile of your perfect customer, and make it as extensive as possible. First, focus on the simpler characteristics such as age range. But as you progress, go into more detail – what music do they listen to, do they have kids, are they artistically inclined?
Once you construct the profile of the perfect customer, you will have a lot to go on from when designing the interior. Remember – your goal here is to ensure that the interior is as appealing as possible to your target audience. This process is extensive, but if done right, will give great results. It truly is important to make your brand distinguishable and relatable to your target audience. If you fail to do so, you end up with a generic restaurant, and there are just too many of those out there.
The impact of lighting
Many people tend to underestimate just how impactful lighting is in interior design, but also in general. Lighting not only dictates how a room looks but also how it feels on many different levels. By changing the tone of light, its dimness, position, and similar parameters, you dictate how people are going to feel in your restaurant.
Are you shooting for a classy, high-end look, a contemporary and modern one, or an artsy, out-of-the-box look? Whatever the case may be, lighting is an easy shortcut to your goal, as it enhances all the other parameters that impact it. For instance, colder tones may play a better role in a high-end look, while dimmed, bolder colors can work better in an artsy setting. Try different things out, see what works best, but don’t forget about the impact of lighting!
Cohesive materials
Unless your initial goal is to design your restaurant to look eclectic – it would be best that you stick to a cohesive style. Now, it can be downright boring to make all your furniture borderline the same in order to emphasize the overall concept. A better way to approach making a look cohesive is by employing connected themes in regard to lighting, materials, and colors. For simplicity, let’s focus on the materials. It is important that you ensure that the materials in the restaurant are generally cohesive, and this goes for furniture – but also decor, walls, and flooring.
Additionally, choosing materials tactically can further elevate the look. For instance, many modern establishments opt for avoiding cheap, plastic elements of significance. Instead, using wood in contrast with metal, they ensure a feeling of warmth, enhanced with futuristic, strong metallic elements. In a similar manner, ensuring that you use cohesive materials among furniture pays off as well.
Finally, it is important to have in mind that there are no two restaurants in the world that are the same. Hence, individuality and originality in a restaurant are not only encouraged – but are the key to a successful, well-established brand. Ultimately – there is no true guideline that would be able to tell every restaurant owner how to boost their restaurant’s interior design. But, as you’ve seen, there are some things that are universally important and should be considered by everyone. So, take your time when it comes to the restaurant’s interior – once you establish the overall look, the probability is high that you will not stray away from it that much in the future. Good luck!